PHOENIX -- Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll understands why people suspect his team is loading up for a one- or two-year shot at the Super Bowl.

Just don't expect him to buy the implication Seattle is sacrificing the future for the present.

"The last thing I would want to convey is that we were trying to take our big shot right now," Carroll said Wednesday from the NFL owners meeting. "That's not it. We tried to do it last year. We're trying to do it this year."

Trading the 25th and 214th picks to Minnesota along with a 2014 third-rounder brought Percy Harvin to Seattle in spectacular fashion. The Seahawks then signed Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett in free agency to bolster their pass rush.

The move to get Harvin was the definition of aggressive. Avril and Bennett carried much lower price tags.

Seattle was much more active in the trade market back in 2010, at least in terms of volume.

"If you have watched the way [general manager] John [Schneider] and I have operated, we have gone for it every chance we've gotten," Carroll said. "We have set out to compete at every single opportunity that presents itself and make the most of it.

"Because of good management on John’s end of it, we had some cap room to do some things. We have just fit things together that also were part of the long-range plan. We have a very young football team that we need to tend to as their time comes up with contract issues, and we have that all mapped out and planned out."

Carroll also rejected the implication that Seattle was making moves after deciding what it would take to overcome San Francisco in the NFC West.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no," Carroll replied. "That's what you think. We have to get better. The last thing we are going to do is evaluate how we are based on everybody else. To me, that is one of the worst mistakes you can make. The other factors -- who won the league last year -- I could care less. We can’t control that."